Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-06

.lAT LOW PRICES.
] nothing aow or theoretical about tax
: ing only the source of things and not
the things.
! The Advocate then fully justifies
this theory Y saying that under it .'it
!. would not be to the interest Of any man
to hold more land than lie could cult.
vate himself" II q man has more land
than he can occupy or employ himself
on lie wants it only to keep others from
employing themselves; this is contrary
to good public policy. We have no
more right to allow land to be held con-
trary TO good public policy than any
thing else. FIVE allow a man to hold
two hundred acres and work out one
hundred, or to own hundred coal
! mines and allow but one to be worked,
SO he can affect the price of produce, in
the first case, and the price Of coal in
the second, what right have we to In
terfre with men who combine to pre-
vent others from working at wages the
union men do not choose to accept?
We must prevent this misuse of land;
aud If we can find some way in which
men will be governed by their own In
terests, in this respect, so much the
! better.
! Now we find a quibble about peco-
liarity of expression intended to con-
trast natural right with what we
cantly call vested right.
! From shallow to shallower: "a man
might own one thousand acres. cult.
vate but one or two hundred and use
the rest for pasturage &c.n Well that
would be using 1t himself then; his
own interests would compel him To-
put it to coed use; and as he would be-
assessed quite as high on the pasture
as the glebe, 1t would be the duty OF
the state to see that lie was not dis
turbed in his possession. 30 long as he
paid the taxes. The bility Of one mau
to handle 30 much land himself. and
profitably, is a question too absurd for
practical farmer to discuss. If Dig
had wings one would not be surprised
| at seeing it fly.
But If this man should choose to sell,
these poor people 'for whom Mr..
George pleads SO piteously" - they
I, could not buy it, and could not pay the
proposed taxes ifit were given to them.
Well they would not have to buy the
land, though they might have to
squeeze something out Of their pockets
for the improvements, II any were on
1t. The improvements would be good
for. themselves, however, and ns the
state can own no land 1t would have
some to sell. There would be no back
taxes hanging over the land as there
are over those lands advertised for sale
In the two extra sheets enclosed In the
copy Of the REGISTER in which this
Christian editor is quoted: The poor
people who might 60 upon abandoned
| land, would have no taxes to poy TIL
they could make them out of the land,
and they could eurely do this when
taxes would not be nearly so great u
sum. In the aggregate. as they are Ia.
day. Having supposed that nne CAP.
ifalist had to drop the land he supposes
another capitalist would buy 1t. This
presupposes, of course, that capitalist
is another name for fool. "Or the
government would have 10 lease tha
land out, az is done In Ireland" That
editor must have qnser notion of how
land is leased in ireland. Individuals
own and lease the land there, though
the government, the brutal British
government, sees that the rents arc
not exorbitant, something we cannot
say OF any state government In this
union. though they do pretend to reg.
ulate interest upon loaned money.
Now comes the old chestnut about
men saving the money they spend for
liquor and paying their way with 1t
out into the free and open country.
where there is 80 much work and sucl,
high wages, 80 much sunshine, free
air, and free-no the editor forgot TO
say free land. yet man Is land animal
and cannot exist without it-neither
bask in the sunshine nor draw lis
beath.
In my last told "Neti" what fear
ful thing general tendency might be.
Generals Caesar, Bonsparte, Welling-
ton, Washington, Lee, anu Grant, all
in pile, could be whipped by one GEL
eral tendency; and If the editor Of the
Christion ADVOCATE will come out into
the free air of this landlord devilled
country, he will soon find out why the
United States census tells us that Gem
eral Tendency has been driving the
rural population into the towns and
cities at such an enormous rate for the
last thirty years.
| Georges proposition is simple In 1t.
self, but 30 far reaching. in effects, that
1t would be well for the Advocate to
think twice before is let's itself loose on
paper once; and when IL can show us
a mistake in the multiplication table
i might venture to point out the wrong
m the single tax. FARMER.
Sept. ~, 1887.
Iron County Teachers Institute.